Composting has been traditionally considered a process in which a succession of mesophilic and thermophilic microbial populations occurs due to temperature changes. In order to deepen in this model, ...1380 bacterial and fungal strains (the entire culturable microbiota isolated from a composting process) were investigated for their ability to grow across a wide range of temperatures (20 to 60 °C). First, qualitative tests were performed to establish a thermal profile for each strain. Then, quantitative tests allowed ascertaining the extent of growth for each strain at each of the tested temperatures. The identity of the isolates enabled to position them taxonomically and permitted tracking the strains throughout the process. Results showed that 90% of the isolates were classified as thermotolerant (they grew at all tested temperatures). Only 9% and 1% of the studied strains showed to be strictly mesophilic or thermophilic, respectively. Firmicutes exhibited the greatest thermal plasticity, followed by Actinobacteria and Ascomycota. Most of the Proteobacteria and all Basidiomycota strains were also able to grow at all the assayed temperatures. Thermotolerance was clearly demonstrated among the composting microbiota, suggesting that the idea of the succession of mesophilic and thermophilic populations throughout the process might need a reassessment.
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•The temperature-driven succession of the composting microbial populations was revisited.•Thermotolerance was demonstrated for a vast majority of the composting microbiota.•Thermotolerant strains were repeatedly identified in most of the composting stages.•Firmicutes and Ascomycota accounted for the best represented thermotolerant phyla.•Thermal plasticity is a microbial reply to the ever changing composting conditions.
Abstract
The use of rhizobacteria provide great benefits in terms of nitrogen supply, suppression of plant diseases, or production of vitamins and phytohormones that stimulate the plant growth. At ...the same time, cyanobacteria can photosynthesize, fix nitrogen, synthesize substances that stimulate rhizogenesis, plant aerial growth, or even suppose an extra supply of carbon usable by heterotrophic bacteria, as well as act as biological control agents, give them an enormous value as plant growth promoters. The present study focused on the in vitro establishment of consortia using heterotrophic bacteria and cyanobacteria and the determination of their effectiveness in the development of tomato seedlings. Microbial collection was composed of 3 cyanobacteria (SAB-M612 and SAB-B866 belonging to
Nostocaceae
Family) and GS (unidentified cyanobacterium) and two phosphate and potassium solubilizing heterotrophic bacteria (
Pseudomonas putida
-BIO175 and
Pantoea cypripedii
-BIO175). The results revealed the influence of the culture medium, incubation time and the microbial components of each consortium in determining their success as biofertilizers. In this work, the most compatible consortia were obtained by combining the SAB-B866 and GS cyanobacteria with either of the two heterotrophic bacteria. Cyanobacteria GS promoted the growth of both rhizobacteria in vitro (increasing logarithmic units when they grew together). While Cyanobacteria SAB-B866 together with both rhizobacteria stimulated the growth of tomato seedlings
in planta
, leading to greater aerial development of the treated seedlings. Parameters such as fresh weight and stem diameter stood out in the plants treated with the consortia (SAB-B866 and both bacteria) compared to the untreated plants, where the values doubled. However, the increase was more discrete for the parameters stem length and number of leaves. These results suggest that the artificial formulation of microbial consortia can have positive synergistic effects on plant growth, which is of enormous agro-biotechnological interest.
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•Intense turnover of organic matter was induced by inoculation of composting piles.•More simple compounds were released from polymeric fractions in inoculated piles.•Humification was ...more intense and earlier achieved in inoculated piles.•Inoculation clearly stimulated growth and activity of the composting microbiota.•Inoculation affected microbiota structure but its functionality remained unaltered.
Enhanced organic matter turnover was detected in lignocellulosic composting piles inoculated with microorganisms specifically capable of decomposing polymeric compounds. In comparison to uninoculated piles, the following results were obtained in the inoculated piles: degradation of hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin were 28%, 21% and 25% respectively higher. Total organic matter, total sugars and phenolic compounds also decreased more intensely. Greater amounts of soluble organic carbon, reducing sugars and soluble proteins were available to the composting microbiota. Recycling of organic to inorganic nitrogen was improved and humification was more intense and earlier attained. Microbial community structure was also affected by inoculation. It was initially thought that these effects were due to enzymatic capabilities of inoculants, however, microbial counts, especially those corresponding to functional groups, revealed that inoculation induced a true stimulation of microbial growth and activity in the entire composting microbiota which was actually responsible for all the beneficial effects reported here.
Summary
Objective
To analyze the effectiveness and tolerability of perampanel across different seizure types in routine clinical care of patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE).
Methods
...This multicenter, retrospective, 1‐year observational study collected data from patient records at 21 specialist epilepsy units in Spain. All patients who were aged ≥12 years, prescribed perampanel before December 2016, and had a confirmed diagnosis of IGE were included.
Results
The population comprised 149 patients with IGE (60 with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, 51 generalized tonic–clonic seizures GTCS only, 21 juvenile absence epilepsy, 10 childhood absence epilepsy, 6 adulthood absence epilepsy, and one Jeavons syndrome). Mean age was 36 years. The retention rate at 12 months was 83% (124/149), and 4 mg was the most common dose. At 12 months, the seizure‐free rate was 59% for all seizures (88/149); 63% for GTCS (72/115), 65% for myoclonic seizures (31/48), and 51% for absence seizures (24/47). Seizure frequency was reduced significantly at 12 months relative to baseline for GTCS (78%), myoclonic (65%), and absence seizures (48%). Increase from baseline seizure frequency was seen in 5.2% of patients with GTCS seizures, 6.3% with myoclonic, and 4.3% with absence seizures. Perampanel was effective regardless of epilepsy syndrome, concomitant antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), and prior AEDs, but retention and seizure freedom were significantly higher when used as early add‐on (after ≤2 prior AEDs) than late (≥3 prior AEDs). Adverse events were reported in 50% of patients over 12 months, mostly mild or moderate, and irritability (23%), somnolence (15%), and dizziness (14%) were most frequent.
Significance
In routine clinical care of patients with IGE, perampanel improved seizure outcomes for GTCS, myoclonic seizures, and absence seizures, with few discontinuations due to adverse events. This is the first real‐world evidence with perampanel across different seizure types in IGE.
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•Heterogeneity of composting process hinds the establishment of bioindicators.•Biodiversity and respirometric index affect phytostimulant power of compost.•Phenolic content and ...nitrification index could impact compost biodiversity.•Compost biodiversity is greater the lower the activity of xylanase.•Different raw materials evolve similar products by different bioestrategies.
Currently, the metagenomic study of the composting process has gained great importance since it has allowed the identification of the existence of microorganisms that, until now, had not been isolated during the process by traditional techniques. However, it is still complex to determine which bioindicators could reveal the degree of maturity and stability of a particular compost. Thereby, the main objective of this work was to demonstrate the possible correlation between traditional parameters of maturity and stability of compost, with other indicators of biodiversity in products highly heterogeneous from composting processes on an industrial scale.
The results demonstrated the enormous influence of the raw materials in characterizing the products obtained. Even so, important relationships were established between the Chao1 and Shannon indexes, and certain parameters related to the maturity, stability and toxicity of the samples, such as nitrification index, humification rate, phenolic content, germination index or oxygen consumption.
Summary
Infections are one of the well‐known precipitating factors for relapses in patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection ...can sometimes lead to or be associated with thrombocytopenia due to an increase in peripheral platelet destruction from inflammatory hyperactivation. Currently, we do not know if SARS‐CoV‐2 infection modifies the natural evolution of chronic or persistent ITP or if previous immunosuppression of patients with ITP influences the incidence and severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) in this group. The present study was an observational, multicentre, national series of 32 adult patients with pre‐existing ITP and subsequent SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, collected by the Spanish ITP Group Grupo Español de Trombocitopenia Inmune (GEPTI).
Nowadays, atom-based quantum sensors are leaving the laboratory towards field applications requiring compact and robust laser systems. Here we describe the realization of a compact laser system for ...atomic gravimetry. Starting with a single diode laser operating at 780 nm and adding only one fiber electro-optical modulator, one acousto-optical modulator and one laser amplifier we produce laser beams at all the frequencies required for a Rb-87 atomic gravimeter. Furthermore, we demonstrate that an atomic fountain configuration can also be implemented with our laser system. The modulated system reported here represents a substantial advance in the simplification of the laser source for transportable atom-based quantum sensors that can be adapted to other sensors such as atomic clocks, accelerometers, gyroscopes or magnetometers with minor modifications.
Cyanogen (NCCN) is the simplest member of the series of dicyanopolyynes. It has been hypothesized that this family of molecules can be important constituents of interstellar and circumstellar media, ...although the lack of a permanent electric dipole moment prevents its detection through radioastronomical techniques. Here we present the first solid evidence of the presence of cyanogen in interstellar clouds by detection of its protonated form toward the cold dark clouds TMC-1 and L483. Protonated cyanogen (NCCNH+) has been identified through the J = 5−4 and J = 10−9 rotational transitions using the 40 m radiotelescope of Yebes and the IRAM 30 m telescope. We derive beam-averaged column densities for NCCNH+ of (8.6 ± 4.4) × 1010 cm-2 in TMC-1 and (3.9 ± 1.8) × 1010 cm-2 in L483, which translate into fairly low fractional abundances relative to H2, in the range (1–10) × 10-12. The chemistry of protonated molecules in dark clouds is discussed, and it is found that, in general terms, the abundance ratio between the protonated and non-protonated forms of a molecule increases with increasing proton affinity. Our chemical model predicts an abundance ratio NCCNH+/NCCN of ~10-4, which implies that the abundance of cyanogen in dark clouds could be as high as (1–10) × 10-8 relative to H2, i.e., comparable to that of other abundant nitriles such as HCN, HNC, and HC3N.
Microorganisms drive the degradation of organic matter thanks to their enzymatic versatility. However, the structure of lignocellulose poses a great challenge for the microbiota inhabiting a compost ...pile. Our purpose was to increase the biodegradability of vegetable waste in the early stages of the composting process by applying a microbial consortium with lignocelllulolytic capacity. For this, a previous screening was performed among the culturable microbiota from different composting processes to find inoculants with ligninocellulolytic activity. Selected strains were applied as a pure culture and as a microbial consortium. The starting material was composed of tomato plant and pruning remains mixed in a ratio (50:50 v/v), whose humidity was adjusted to around 65%. To determine the ability of both treatments to activate the biodegradation of the mixtures, moisture, organic matter, ash, C/N ratio, 4-day cumulative respirometric index (AT4) and degradation rates of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin were evaluated. Subsequently, a real composting process was developed in which the performance of the microbial consortium was compared with the composting process without inoculum (control). According to our tests, three microbial strains (Bacillus safensis, Bacillus licheniformis and Fusarium oxysporum) were selected. The results showed that the application of the bacteria strains at low doses (104 CFU g−1 on the complete residual material of the pile) resulted in higher rates of lignocelullose degradation after 10 days of treatment compared to that observed after application of the fungus in pure culture or untreated controls. The implementation of the strategy described in this work resulted in obtaining compost with better agronomic quality than the uninoculated controls. Therefore, the application of this consortium could be considered as an interesting tool for bioactivation of lignocellulosic waste prior to the composting process.
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•Resident lignocellulolytic microbiota is useful to improve the composting process.•A simple protocol for the pretreatment of plant wastes was developed.•Bacillus spp. represent an excellent biotechnological tool in composting processes.•10 days of pretreatment at low inoculum doses improves the final product quality.
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